It’s been snowing here in Edinburgh for over a week now. On that weekend of the first snow, it was fun playing outside with the boys and working with shovels clearing our car from snow and ice. I felt cheerful, as the abundance of snow reminded me of my home town and my childhood back in Russia!
On Monday last week the situation seemed a bit more “serious”. I walked to work on the main road, watching out for cars, as the side walks were covered in deep snow. On the way, my mobile rang twice with the cancellations of appointments, all due to snow. At the same time my husband was taking the children to nursery by bus as we did not bother to dig our car out of the snow that morning, only to find out that the nursery is closed. My day turned out to be quite stressful because of … my resistance to the weather.
Next morning I took it easier, and knowing that the nursery is closed and I cannot go to work I simply went out with the boys and friend’s family to enjoy sledging! The day after, I took a long walk in the snow, where I had sunny intervals with stunning views of the city from the hill side as well as a snow blizzard!
I have really been enjoying the snow this week and embracing all the challenges that came together with it. But I often found myself alone in this joy. People I met on the streets and at work showed remarkable non-acceptance of the snow. And it is not like something unusual; Edinburgh was snowed in for weeks last winter. And yet this year again we curse the snow, the schools and nurseries are shut, the airport is closed, many workplaces are “frozen”.
Maybe the way out of this chaos and a first step to a solution of the “snow problem” would be to accept the snow and start constructively deal with the challenge. We could learn a bit of how to deal with such situation from other countries that are covered with snow for months every year. We can also begin to be responsible for dealing with the snow situation in a positive way: “the snow is here, what I can do to make my life and the life of others happier?”
These thoughts can be easily transferred to any other challenge in our life that we resist. We are often “snowed in” with our problems, resisting them. As Eckhart Tolle says we have three possibilities to choose from: remove ourselves from the situation, change the situation or accept it fully. The snow is completely out of our control, so we cannot really change the situation, can we? It would be tricky to “remove ourselves from this situation” as the airport at the time of writing is closed. The choice here is to accept.
When we resist something that is so out of our control, we make not the best choices. And 
once we accept, we can make better choices for ourselves and others. Our actions from the place of acceptance will be much wiser, calmer, and stronger (and more productive :-)).
The contemplation about the snow problem and acceptance has prompted me to reconsider my resistance to some of my challenging life situations. I am on my way to accepting them and hopefully making better choices in my life. And when we all turn from resisting the snow to accepting it and acting “with it” and not against it, we all have a chance for a joyful winter experience!
So, what are you resisting in your life?
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